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1995-07-27
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YAM, Version 1.10, July 27, 1995
Copyright (c) 1995 Bermuda Software Publishing
Written by Bruno Essmann (bessmann@iiic.ethz.ch)
New in Release 1.10
===================
There are only some minor changes, but I think it's worth releasing a new
version even if the last release was only a fortnight ago.
- the most important change is the removal of recursion in the procedure
which does the field check, this drastically reduces the memory required
to run YAM (and the error "out of system memory" should not appear
anymore unless you're really short of memory)
- the size of the executable and the memory needed to run YAM has been
reduced by about 1KB by a utility called 'aka' by David Palmer (thanks)
in addition the help file is slightly smaller (about 1KB) so the total
size reduction of the files on disk is about 2KB
- online help works in the dialogs "Set preferences", "Setup sounds" and
"Custom game" (the help key is captured in most cases, just press the
help key long enough and the online help will appear)
- the "Set preferences" dialog has been split up into two dialogs "Set
preferences" and "Setup sounds".
Introduction
============
YAM is Yet Another Minesweeper for the Psion Series 3a. It will not run
on a Series 3 but feel free to port it.
There have been two reasons for me to write yet another minesweeper.
Firstly I didn't like the various other minesweepers available (no offence
meant to the authors of those programs, I just didn't like them) and
secondly I wanted to find out if OPL is suited to write 'real' applications
or if it's a mere tool to enhance the built-in calculator. The conclusion
is that I don't like OPL as an programming language. Of course it's better
than nothing, but it lacks all the enhancements of modern programming
languages like Modula-2 or Oberon-2. Fortunately there exist preprocessors
('s3atrans' for MS-DOS computers and 'opl_pp' for the Psion Series 3a) else
I wouldn't have had the nerve to finish this minesweeper.
Hardware Requirements
=====================
1) Psion Series 3a
2) at least 50 KB of free memory
Software Requirements
=====================
1) one of the following OPL preprocessors which should both be available
from where you obtained the YAM source code
- For MS-DOS computers: S3ATRANS
- For Psion S3a computers: OPL_PP
2) the helpkit written by Jezar at Psion (jezar@cix.compulink.co.uk),
look out for HELPKIT1.ZIP.
3) if you want to create an optimized version (is a bit faster and uses
about 1KB less memory) you'll also need AKA by David Palmer (MS-DOS
computers only).
Installation
============
The installation kit consists of the following files:
name contents
README.TXT this text
INSTALL.TXT installation script for use with MCLINK
YAM.OPH yam headerfile (required)
YAM.OPL yam application module (compile this to get yam.opa) (required)
MAIN.OPL main event handling functions (required)
GAME.OPL minesweeper game routines (required)
DISP.OPL display functions (required)
UTIL.OPL auxiliary routines (required)
ICON.PIC the application icon (required)
HELP.HLP the help source (for use with the helpkit) (optional)
YAM.PIC the game images (used by yam.opa) (required)
to load
1) make shure the computer can connect to the Series 3a
2) execute MCLINK.EXE @INSTALL.TXT
remarks:
1) to copy the yam source code to a drive other than M: edit INSTALL.TXT
accordingly.
2) if you're short of free ram remove the line containing HELP.HLP from
INSTALL.TXT, the help file is not required but recommended.
3) if you are using RCom modify the INSTALL.TXT accordingly and save
it as INSTALL.BAT or execute the commands manually.
Files and Folders
=================
When using the INSTALL.TXT script to install the source code the files will
be copied to the following locations. Of course you can edit INSTALL.TXT to
copy the source code wherever you want...
name location
YAM.OPH \APP\YAM\SOURCE\ (on any drive)
YAM.OPL \APP\YAM\SOURCE\ (on any drive)
MAIN.OPL \APP\YAM\SOURCE\ (on any drive)
GAME.OPL \APP\YAM\SOURCE\ (on any drive)
DISP.OPL \APP\YAM\SOURCE\ (on any drive)
UTIL.OPL \APP\YAM\SOURCE\ (on any drive)
ICON.PIC \APP\YAM\SOURCE\ (on any drive)
HELP.HLP \APP\YAM\SOURCE\ (on any drive)
YAM.PIC \APP\YAM\ (on any drive)
YAM.HLP \APP\YAM\ (on any drive, after creation with the HELPKIT)
YAM.INI M:\APP\YAM\ (will be created automagically, see below)
After successful compilation, when YAM is started the first time it will
create a file called YAM.INI which holds the configuration data. Since this
file will be modified whenever you change the settings or if a new highscore
is achieved this file will be stored on the internal drive in the folder
\APP\YAM\. If you deinstall YAM don't forget to delete this file as well.
Compilation Notes
=================
The following things have to be respected when compiling YAM:
- To create YAM.OPA you'll have to compile YAM.OPL since this is the
application module. YAM.OPL contains the global variables, some
initialisation code and imports all the other source files.
- Before compiling YAM.OPL make shure the ICON statement in line 7 points to
the correct path if you copied the source files to another location.
- If you compile the help file HELP.HLP with the helpkit the generated
resource file will be created as \OPD\HELP.RSC. Copy this file to
\APP\YAM\YAM.HLP else YAM will not be able to access it.
- If you encounter any problems or have some suggestions feel free to contact
me (use the e-mail address given below if possible).
New in release 1.10:
- The recursive function version of 'Game_CheckField' has been replaced by a
nonrecursive version. There is a definition called 'CHECK_RECURSIVE' which
(if defined, see the file YAM.OPH for details) enables you to compile YAM
with the recursive version.
Contact Address
===============
YAM, Yet Another Minesweeper
Bermuda Software Publishing
Attn Bruno Essmann
Duebendorfstrasse 184/02
CH-8051 Zuerich
E-mail: bessmann@iiic.ethz.ch
Freeware
========
YAM and its source code are freeware.
I decided to release YAM as freeware because there is a nasty trend that
everybody who writes even a small application thinks that he'll get money
for it. The result is that there are a lot of crippleware applications.
I've spent about 15 hours writing YAM and I did it because programming is
one of my hobbies. I don't have spare time either, I take the time for
programming since it's fun (at least sometimes) and as a basic rule I
release all applications that took less than, say 100 hours to write as
freeware.
Disclaimer
==========
Permission to use, copy, modify or distribute this software and its
documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that
the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright
notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and
that the name of Bermuda Software Publishing not be used in advertising or
publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific,
written prior permission.
Bermuda Software Publishing disclaims all warranties with regard to this
software, including all implied special, indirect or consequential damages
or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits,
whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action,
arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this software.